Luce
by nessa3759
Summary: Marth's second secret, revealed at last. But only to one, one who has, to her, been long dead. For him, she has barely been born. Spoiler alert! (Fire Emblem: Awakening)


**A wild oneshot appeared!**

**SPOILER ALERT! If you don't want any spoilers for the game Fire Emblem: Awakening, don't read this.**

**What, something else that's angst-y? (If you follow my Legend of Zelda fanfiction, _The Moon is the Sun_, you'll know that I recently posted a filler chapter filled with—what else?—angst.) Yeah, I know, I know. I'll try not to make a habit of it xP  
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**Sorry that it's so short. Enjoy, and please review! ^u^**

**-Nessa**

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I stared at the ground for a few moments. My brain was telling my heart I couldn't. I couldn't reveal myself, the fate of the world could be seriously altered, unforeseen things would happen, things that even Lady Naga might not be able to stop if they went wrong, not with Grima on the rise. My brain was telling my heart to run and disappear as soon as the opportunity came, to avoid these people as long as I could.

My heart was telling my brain to shut the hell up.

I took a few steps forward, determined to walk right past Chrom and return to my camp until the next time I absolutely had to come back, but for some reason found that I couldn't make myself move more than a couple meters away from him and I stopped. In the few moments where neither of us spoke, I could hear birds and the river and wind rushing in the trees. I shivered.

"Marth?" he said uncertainly.

My breath caught in my throat. "Do me a favor," I muttered, "and don't call me that."

He frowned slightly. "Then what should I call you?"

I turned to face him, and for the first time since my mask had broken, I pulled my hair away from the left side of my face. _No_, my brain said urgently, _you can't do this, dammit, stop it you idiot_—

At first, he didn't seem to understand what I was doing. His frown deepened as he looked at me, but then he saw. His expression turned to one of astonishment and he inhaled sharply when he noticed my left eye. "But that's the..." He trailed off for a moment, then finished softly, "...Brand of the Exalt." His brow furrowed again. I could almost see his brain working to figure out what any possible explanations for this were. Then it hit him.

He was staring at me like I was a ghost. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out and he shut it. Something in my chest must've suddenly imploded, because the pain and aching that blazed to life there like forest-fire was unbearable. I pressed the heels of my hands into my tightly-closed eyes and bit my tongue, trying to hold the agony and sorrow in when it so desperately wanted out.

"...Lucina?"

I forced my hands away from my face—I was shaking so badly I couldn't hold them there any longer. I tasted blood in my mouth from where I'd bit the inside of my cheek, and it was soon joined by the saltiness of the teardrops that had reached my lips. I tried to nod but I didn't think he could distinguish my involuntary shivering from some of my actual movements.

Chrom took a few steps forward, clearly hesitant. He reached his hand out, then stopped, perhaps afraid or perhaps just lost for action. He looked at Falchion, the sword I'd brought from the future at my hip that was also coincidentally at his at this moment in time, then made up his mind and wiped the tears from my cheek.

I froze, and he withdrew, moving back a few steps back, undoubtedly thinking he'd done something wrong. "I guess I should've left you with more than a single sword in a world full of troubles and evil, shouldn't have I?" he muttered, finally understanding. "Only goes to show how little I know about parenting." It was almost intended as a joke, and even though Chrom had never been so great at those, it was an attempt. I looked up, and we locked eyes.

That was when it was too much.

"Oh, Father!" I choked out, and ran to him. I threw my arms around him and began sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder. If he was surprised he either concealed it well or I didn't notice. He held me tightly and cradled my head against him, just like he used to when I was little. Like he _would_ when I was little. "Father, I'm sorry!"

"Lucina," he whispered, his voice cracking a tiny bit, "my beautiful, brave Lucina, you have done nothing wrong!"

I wanted to protest, to tell him I'd done everything wrong, but for once in my life I wanted that small support, too; from him, from anyone.—And besides, I could barely speak for crying so hard. I couldn't seem to stop my own tears. My body was still trying to sob even after it was spent, dry, racking sobs that made me shudder, and each quivering breath I took was harder to draw than the last. My muscles were tense as I gripped the back of his shirt in my tightly clenched fists, unwilling to ever let go.

Chrom said nothing until after I had finally regained control of myself. I didn't trust myself to answer comprehensibly when he asked, "Are you alright?", but I managed to shake my head against his chest. Because I definitely wasn't alright.

He hugged me tighter and kissed the top of my head. "I love you," he said. "No matter what, your mother and I, we love you, Lucina."

I sniffed. "I love you too," I said in an unsteady voice, surprised I managed even that much without bursting into tears again. I buried my face in his chest in case I did. "Oh, gods, Father, I missed you so much!"

He stroked my hair comfortingly, and it was a while before either of us spoke again. "Lucina?"

"Y-yes?"

"I..." He hesitated. "I can't pretend I understand any of this."

I looked up at him. "W-what are you on about?"

He took an arm from around me and touched my cheek. He was troubled and worried and very, very confused; I could tell by the way he frowned without meaning to, his eyes showing me a thousand different emotions that I couldn't place. I hadn't seen that expression since I was a child. It made my heart wrench. "Luce...what happens to us...in your time?"

I tensed up involuntarily. _Luce_. Never Lucy, always Luce. "B-bad things," I stammered. "I don't want...I can't...Lady Naga..."

He nodded slowly, understanding I couldn't tell him. "Why have you come back?"

I swallowed. Why had I come back? For the same reason I shouldn't be standing there, telling my father about the future. I slowly pulled my arms away from him and took a few steps back, wiping my eyes. "Father, I want you to promise me that you won't tell anyone who I am. You have to promise."

He gaped at me. "What about Sumia? And Lissa? And—Luce, you must know how awful of a liar I am!"

I bit my lip. He had a point. It wasn't even that he was a bad liar; his emotions were just so easily readable for anyone who knew him well. "You can tell Ma...but nobody else. You have to promise me! Please, Father, I wish it was different, but you need to trust me."

He brushed a few stray strands of hair away from my left eye. "Alright," he said softly. "I promise."

I gave him a brief hug, as quickly as I could, because I knew that the longer I stayed by him the more effort it would take to leave. "Thank you, Father. I'll explain everything one day. Just not now. I have to go."

He immediately began protesting. "What? Why?" he demanded. "You can't just _go_, we've only just found you!"

I smiled sadly and blinked a few times to keep back the hot tears. "But don't you see? I'm right where you left me, Father, sleeping in my cradle in Ylisstol, overlooked by countless nurses and kept safe by the entire royal guard. I'm barely a year old, and yet I'm one of the most important people in the country." I laughed humorlessly. "The girl you see standing in front of you is a time paradox. She can only do as the laws of Naga tell her, and right now, the laws of Naga don't really permit her to be doing what she's doing at this very moment." I began backing away again. "I love you, Father. Tell Ma I love her too."

I could barely deal with the pain I was clearly causing him, the inward struggle. "Lucina..." He was at a loss for words. "When will we see you again?"

"Hopefully not until you return to Ylisstol where I am still a child," I admitted quietly. "But you will see Marth very soon. I promise."

Chrom looked as though he wanted to protest more, but instead he pulled me to him and kissed the top of my head again. "Be safe, Luce," he whispered. "I am proud to be your father."

I shut my eyes very tightly for a moment, then kissed him on the cheek and drew back for the third and final time. "I am proud to be your daughter. You left me so much more than a single sword in a world whose fate couldn't be changed by just one person. Don't worry, Father. And please"—I laughed a little, trying to lighten the situation—"don't try to follow me."

He cracked a dry grin. "Sounds like something I'd do," he admitted.

I began walking away, along the riverside. The wind didn't seem so cold anymore. "Goodbye, Chrom. I'll...see you around." I would, of course, do nothing of the sort.

He shook his head, his smile one of gentle amusement and utmost heartbreak. "Go home, Marth."

I glanced over my shoulder at him, then took off at a sprint into the wood.

I stopped running after five minutes and I walked the rest of the way to my camp. I put away Falchion and wrapped myself in a blanket as I ate cold meat by the dying fire. I wasn't thinking about anything, I wasn't feeling. I was in shutdown.

I cried myself to sleep that night, and when I woke up in the morning, all I could think of was how badly I'd messed with the order of time and how much I didn't care.


End file.
